Visa Lawyer BlogToday is Veterans day, and I wanted to send warm wards of support to our Veterans and the active duty men and women fighting for our country day and night.
I-130 Alien Relative petitions – Comprehensive New Policy on DNA Testing
AILA provided a very important update from the State Department, we wish to share with our readers.
The Department of State has issued comprehensive new policy guidance on the use of DNA testing in the visa application process. This new guidance is set forth in a new set of extensive Notes to 9 FAM 42.44.
In this new guidance, the State Department declares DNA technology to be the only acceptable non-documentary method for proving a biological relationship. The preferred specimen collection technique for DNA testing is by buccal (cheek or mouth cavity) swab.
According to the Department, DNA testing is expensive, complex and time consuming and thus should be recommended only if no other credible proof of the claimed relationship exists. Consular officers should treat DNA testing as a last resort: all other possible methods for confirming the existence of a biological relationship must be exhausted before recommending this course of action. Even then, DNA testing may only be recommended, but never required by the consular officer.
Consular officers may recommend DNA testing solely to prove a relationship; they may never recommend DNA testing in an attempt to disprove a relationship. Only DNA test results reporting a 99.5 percent or greater degree of certainty as proof of a biological relationship between a parent and child may be accepted in visa cases.
The Department clarifies that consular officers adjudicating Form I-130 Alien Relative petitions are not authorized to approve the petition if DNA test results are the sole evidence of the claimed biological relationship. Such cases are not “clearly approvable” per the provisions of 9 FAM 42.41 N4.2-3; accordingly, they must be forwarded to USCIS for adjudication. Parenthetically, USCIS is authorized to approve I-130 petitions supported solely on DNA testing.
San Diego Immigration Lawyer – House passes health care reform bill, what will happen to the undocumented ?
The House of Representatives on Saturday night passed a sweeping health care bill by a vote of 220-215. In the next few weeks, this bill will be analyzed and there will be various summaries online regarding this important piece of legislation. I would like to focus on the Immigration related matters in the Bill.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus staunchly oppose including a provision that would bar undocumented workers from using their own money to buy health insurance policies available through the exchange.
The measure is already included in the Senate Finance Committee’s version of the bill and is backed by the White House. Some conservative House Democrats have also indicated their support for the Senate language.
I-751 Removal of Conditions Application – Waivers of the Joint Filing Requirement
Most applicants that are married less than 2 years to a US citizen must file form I-751 to remove the conditions. The Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 (IMFA) contained a requirement to file a Petition for Removal of Condition during the 90-day period preceding the second anniversary of the noncitizen’s acquisition of resident status.
The petition is to be filed jointly by the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse and the conditional resident (CR). IMFA also allowed for a waiver of the joint-filing requirement based on specified grounds if the joint petition could not be filed. The IMFA was modified in 1990 (IMMACT90), and broadened the grounds for filing a waiver of the joint-filing requirement.
Currently a conditional resident can obtain a waiver of the joint-filing requirement and can show that he or she qualifies on one of three distinct bases: (1) extreme hardship to the CR if removed; (2) a good-faith marriage that has been terminated (by means of divorce); or (3) a good-faith marriage during which the CR or child suffered battery or extreme cruelty at the hands of the spouse. The CR files the waiver on Form I-751.
PERM – Approved Labor Certification Validity for LC’s with an Ending Validity Date that Falls on a Saturday, Sunday or Federal Legal Holiday
USCIS recently issued a Memo that amends Adjudicator’s Field Manual on General Form I-140 Issues. Many issues are covered, but one of particular interest to our PERM readers is the Labor Certification Validity for Labor Certifications with an Ending Validity Date that Falls on a Saturday, Sunday or Federal Legal Holiday.
DOL has established a 180-day validity period for approved labor certifications. See 20 CFR 656.30(b). An approved labor certification must be filed in support of a Form 1-140 petition during the labor certification’s validity period. DOL has not published any guidance regarding the treatment of labor certifications that effectively have a validity period of less than 180 days due to an ending validity date that falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a federal legal holiday.
USCIS will accept the filing of 1-140 petitions where the supporting labor certification validity period ends on a Saturday, Sunday or federal legal holiday on the next business day, i.e., the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or federal legal holiday. This action is most consistent with existing USCIS regulations, which allow cut-off dates for the filing of petitions and applications that fall on a Saturday, Sunday or federal legal holiday to be extended until the next business day. See 8 CFR 1.1 (h). This procedure provides petitioning employers the benefit of the full 180 day validity period for approved labor certifications established by DOL.
H1B Visa Lawyer – Advanced Degree H-1B Cap Reached, Regular Cap is almost reached
So is the economic downturn over already, if you look at the recent H1B filings it may well be the case. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated its periodic count of FY2010 H-1B cap filings, revealing that there has been a significant increase in the rate of filings during the month of October 2009. USCIS has stated that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to use all of the available 20,000 H-1B numbers that are reserved for individuals with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges or universities, which means that the “advanced degree” H-1B cap for FY2010 has been reached. H-1Bs for individuals with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges or universities can still be filed, but those petitions will now count toward the general H-1B cap of 65,000.
Around 6,200 cap-subject H-1B petitions were filed in October 2009. This is a significant number, especially when compared to the only 1,500 filings received by USCIS in September 2009. In total, as of October 25, 2009, approximately 52,800 H-1B petitions that count against the congressionally-mandated 65,000 limit have been received by USCIS. This leaves only around 12,000 H-1B cap numbers for FY2010, without taking into account the 6,800 H-1B cap numbers that are reserved for nationals of Chile and Singapore. If all 6,800 of these “reserved” numbers are removed from the 65,000 cap along with the 52,800 H-1B cap petitions already received, there are only around 5,400 FY2010 H-1B cap numbers remaining.
As a practical matter, USCIS will likely accept well more than 5,400 additional cap cases in FY2010, as the number of cases USCIS will accept anticipates that a certain number of filings will be withdrawn or denied. Additionally, nowhere near the full 6,800 Chile/Singapore numbers have historically been actually used by nationals of Chile or Singapore. Thus, most of those numbers are applied by USCIS to the general 65,000 cap.
San Diego Immigration Attorney about Application Support Center hours update
Here is a recent update from our local AILA office. All USCIS Application Support Centers (ASC’s) now operate Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For our district that includes the Chula Vista, San Marcos, and Imperial ASCs.
Previously, the ACS’s accommodated special situations like requests for earlier biometric capture or accommodating people who missed their appointments on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Now, the best time to walk-in because of these kind of issues is Monday through Friday between 2:30 and 3 p.m. This includes Wednesday, as Wednesday is no longer a light schedule day.
Petition for Widow of a United States Citizen
On October 20, 2009 the U.S. Senate voted to pass the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Conference Report that contained a provision to end the widow penalty. The House of Representatives previously voted to pass the bill. The bill became Public Law Number 111-83 upon President Obama’s signature of October 28, 2009.
In the past the government has argued that the spouse’s death before the two-year mark ends the marriage, canceling the foreigner’s right to be considered for residency and opening the door to deportation.
The new provision does not directly address the government’s definition of marriage, but it allows foreigners married to Americans for less than two years to submit their own petition for residency within two years of the spouse’s death, as long as they have not remarried and can prove a good-faith marriage.
The HIV Travel Ban is now lifted – What Classes of Immigrants this Regulation Applies to?
The HIV ban removal will be remembered as a historic decision, through this final rule, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), amended its regulations to remove “Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection” from the definition of communicable disease of public health significance and remove references to “HIV” from the scope of examinations for aliens. Prior to this final rule, aliens with HIV infection were considered to have a communicable disease of public health significance and were thus inadmissible to the United States per the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
As a result of this final rule, aliens will no longer be inadmissible into the United States based solely on the ground they are infected with HIV, and they will not be required to undergo HIV testing as part of the required medical examination for U.S. immigration.
Immigrants for Whom the Regulation Applies
The provisions in 42 CFR part 34 apply to the medical examination of :
(1) aliens outside the United States who are applying for a visa at an embassy or consulate of the United States;
(2) aliens arriving in the United States; and
(3) aliens required by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to have a medical examination in connection with determination of their admissibility into the United States; and
(4) aliens who apply for adjustment of their immigration status to that of lawful permanent resident.
An Immigrant seeking permanent residence, whether through an immigrant visa or asylee status, or through an adjustment of status must undergo a medical examination to determine whether the alien is inadmissible on medical grounds. Aliens seeking admission as refugees also undergo medical examinations overseas. Overseas examinations are conducted by panel physicians designated by the Department of State.
Applicants for adjustment of status to lawful permanent resident are required to have a medical examination conducted by a civil surgeon designated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services within DHS. Prior to this rule HIV infected applicants were barred from Adjusting Status unless a hardship waiver was filed. Only applicants with a qualifying US citizen relative could file for this waiver. Many same sex applicants without a qualifying relative, could not adjust status under the previous legislation. This change will bring a historic relief to thousands of applicants infected with HIV, that were not eligible for any waivers to adjust.
If you are an HIV intending immigrant, please consult an experienced immigration attorney about your options.
San Diego Immigration Lawyer – Why do we still have H1B visa slots for 2010?
It is true to say that the current economic situation in our country is directly related to the problems we have in our Immigration system. In addition to the weak economy, companies have stopped filing for H1B visas in the face of anti-immigrant sentiment in Washington and rising costs associated with hiring foreign-born workers.
Mirian Jordan from the Wall Street Journal published an excellent article on this matter. She states:
The sagging economy, which has pushed U.S. unemployment to 9.8%, has crimped expansion in the technology sector, traditionally the biggest user of the H-1B program. Usually, all visas are allocated within a month or two from April, when applications for the following fiscal year are first accepted. But this year, six months later, “you can still walk in with an application and you’re still highly likely to get approved,” said R. Srikrishna, senior vice president for business operations in North America for HCL Technologies Ltd., an Indian outsourcing company.
The cost and bureaucracy of applying for H-1B visas is another deterrent. Lawyers’ fees, filing fees and other expenses can easily reach $5,000 per applicant. Immigration lawyers say some would-be employers are put off by a crackdown on fraud. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the H-1B program, has been dispatching inspectors on surprise company visits to verify that H-1B employees are performing the jobs on the terms specified. The fraud-detection unit in coming months is expected to inspect up to 20,000 companies with H-1Bs and other temporary worker visas.